Abortion bans aren’t just attacks on reproductive freedom and women’s health. They’re unpopular policy decisions with serious economic consequences. New research from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimates that in the three years since the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 16 states with the most restrictive abortion policies (as of December 2024) cost the US economy a staggering $64 billion in economic losses annually.
And while these bans harm many, Black women bear a disproportionate share of the burden. Already navigating barriers rooted in racism, Black women—who are more likely to live and work in states with abortion bans—are being forced to contend with heavily restrictive policies that further erode their access to essential reproductive health care and economic security.
State-level abortion restrictions drag the entire economy down by limiting women’s access to reproductive health care and, therefore, reducing their spending power. When women are denied the ability to decide if and when to have children, they are more likely to experience setbacks in their careers and earnings growth, or they may find it harder to stay in the paid workforce or continue school, which in turn reduces their labor market participation and earnings potential. In fact, national gross domestic product (GDP) would be 0.5 percent larger without policy roadblocks to accessing abortion care—enough to more than offset the US economy’s 0.3 percent contraction in the first quarter of 2025. For Black women, whose labor force participation and educational outcomes have been shown to be particularly affected by abortion restrictions, the economic consequences of these bans are often more severe.
IWPR research shows that eliminating barriers to abortion access would generate significant economic benefits for all women of reproductive age (15–44), raising annual earnings by 8.5 percent and labor force participation by 1.2 percent. These benefits would be even more pronounced for Black women, whose earnings would grow by 9.6 percent and whose labor force participation would increase by 1.4 percent. In concrete terms, these gains would translate to more than $18 billion in additional annual earnings for Black women and over 86,000 more Black women ages 15–44 participating in the labor force each year.
States that ban or severely restrict abortion access also often fail to invest in the policies that support women, children, and families. For example, they are less likely to adopt Medicaid expansion, more likely to keep minimum wages low, and underfund support programs like nutrition assistance and paid family leave. With lower rates of women’s labor force participation and job growth, lower wages, and lower rates of health insurance coverage on average, these same states also tend to be worse places for women to work. The lack of access to reproductive care also creates additional costs, as pregnant people living in these states often have to travel hundreds of miles—usually incurring the expense of travel, time off work, and child care—to reach the nearest abortion provider, if they are able to access and afford care at all.
For Black women, in particular, the confluence of these conditions creates an especially heavy burden. Nearly 60 percent of Black women of reproductive age—6.7 million women—live and work in states that not only have banned or severely restricted abortion,* but also offer few protections for women’s health and little support for their families. Many of these same states already rank among the worst in the nation for maternal mortality, the rates for which, nationally, are even higher for Black women.
Restoring and expanding access to abortion is not just about protecting reproductive rights and women’s access to essential health care. It’s about advancing economic and racial justice—and building a stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive economy for women and their families.
*While other analyses focus on all women, IWPR research takes a closer look at prime working-age Black women (25–54). In 2023, nearly 59 percent—approximately 4.1 million—were in the labor force in states with total abortion bans or significant restrictions.
This blog was prepared by Dr. Melissa Holly Mahoney, with additional support from Dr. Kate Bahn, Jesse Boyer, Dr. Martha Susana Jaimes, and Emme Rogers.
